


Fly With Me

by GrowLikeAPlant



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Big Brother Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Creepy Slade Wilson, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Gymnastics, Jason Todd Has Issues, M/M, Minor Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 18:41:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13553295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrowLikeAPlant/pseuds/GrowLikeAPlant
Summary: The Jaydick Fantasy AU that no one ever wanted, but here it is. Jason is a shape-shifting pheonix who is one of the last of his kind.Dick is a harpy who has been in captivity for most of his life. After Jason is captured, they team up to escape from their captors and to help the others in captivity. Maybe they'll even fall in love in the process.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm brand new to this website so... Yeah. Sorry if this is trash, all of the information on mythology I got is purely from Google and my imagination.

~~~~Jason's heart was beating rapidly in his chest. His hands were clenched tightly into matching fists, his fingernails digging into his skin, surely leaving indentations. Something was wrong. He felt that he was being watched.

He mentally scolded himself. How  _stupid_ could he be to stay in Gotham? After everything that had happened, why hadn't he left? It was only natural that the Hunters would come after him next. Even as he browsed through the bookshelves at the Gotham City Library. 

Jason knew he had to get out of the library as soon as possible. He scanned his surroundings, trying to mentally make a getaway plan. The library was located on the outskirts of Gotham, surrounded by quaint coffee shops and tranquil parks. There wasn't really a way to get out of the area without making a scene. The building wasn't too crowded that day, there was a few teens over at the computers, a crowd of kids huddled around in the corner for story time, and a handful of adults scattered throughout the building, seated on comfy couches and chairs, flipping through magazines and engrossed in novels. Jason didn't have time to pinpoint who is was that was after him- it could be the lady in the floral skirt that he passed by in the World History section, or the masculine guy that he recommended one of his favorite romance novels to when he seemed to be having trouble finding a good read. Hell, it could be the librarian that had been in a wheelchair for as long as Jason could remember. He'd seen weirder, it wouldn't surprise him too much. 

 

He began making his way towards the end of the bookcase that he'd been browsing through when he'd gotten the awful premonition that still boiled in the pit of his stomach. When he reached the end, he quickly turned left, where he knew that he would be concealed by several other bookcases until he was nearly to the exit. Jason kept his head down and tried his best to not look like he was in a hurry. The heat on the back of his neck continued to grow, even as he desperately pulled the collar of his leather jacket down, trying to cool down. He needed to contain himself. 

After what seemed like a ridiculously long walk, Jason was finally at the check out counter. The old librarian that sat there gave Jason a small smile before asking, "No books today, Mr. Todd?" 

If he wasn't running for his life, Jason might've chuckled. No matter how many times he'd insisted that she call him by his first name, she never did. Instead he just said, "Um, no. Not today."

She smiled yet again and said, "Well I'm sure you'll find something next time."

Jason gave a weak "Mhm" before making his way to the wooden double doors that separated the building from the rest of the city. 

As soon as he pushed the doors open, Jason gladly welcomed the cool autumn air as it hit his face. However, it did little to tame the heat that was burning inside of him, ready to burst. He quickly made his way down the sidewalks towards one of the parks. He hoped that this was maybe, just maybe, his paranoia kicking in, and that no one was after him. However, Jason's intuitions we're rarely wrong. 

The park was mainly empty, except for a middle-aged woman walking her dog and an older man scrolling through his phone while sitting on one of the benches. 

Jason could really feel it now. The feeling of someone's gaze burning into the back of his head, though he didn't dare look back. 

It seemed that once the park ended, Gotham evolved into a much less picturesque place. The houses gradually became more and more run down looking, with graffiti messily gracing the outside of nearly every building. It was the side of the city that Jason was very familiar with. He knew what houses were vacant and which had troubled families in them. He knew which buildings haven't been occupied in years and which ones housed runaways inside of them. 

Jason could hear footsteps now of the grotesquely paved road. He continued to walk though, knowing precisely where he was leading his stalker. 

Beads of sweat began to gather at his hairline, and Jason unzipped his jacket in attempt to cool himself down a bit. It didn't help. The feeling in the pit of his stomach just got worse with every step that he took, the heat on the back of his neck traveled and was burning all throughout his body. Jason's eyesight began to blur, he was so hot he was becoming dizzy. 

Soon, he recognized an alley which he knew that the surrounding buildings were vacant. He was still hesitant though. Was he to fight or to give in? If Jason was completely honest with himself, he didn't have much to live for. He'd been running all of his life from something... When would it end? 

 _Now,_ Jason decided as he abruptly stopped, backing up against the brick wall that lined one said of the alley. The man dropped to his knees and began panting like a dog- very undignified, yes, but he was just so hot. He wrestled his jacket off of his shoulders as he heard the footsteps get closer and closer. He then felt a cool piece of metal meet the skin on his forehead. He looked up to see pale blue eyes meeting his. It was the lady in the floral skirt from the library.

"Mr. Todd," she said in a cool tone of voice. Jason then noticed that the woman's hair was oddly blonde- almost silver. 

"That would be me." Jason replied weakly. He wanted to say some smooth insult, to show at least a little bit of the fire in his soul that got him in trouble so much as a child and still did occasionally as an adult. But his whole body ached, and it felt like flames were already flickering up and down his skin. 

"I take it you'd like this to go the easy way?" The woman asked, her eyes gleaming. 

Oddly submissively, Jason answered in a hoarse voice, "Just end it." He was just so tired. 

The woman chuckled. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

 _Yes,_ Jason wanted to answer. He gave a weak nor instead. 

His attacker just laughed once more. "Oh Jason, it's _far_ from over." 

And with that, she pulled the trigger on her handgun, releasing a silver bullet into Jason's head. 

 


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hahahaha you think that I can write a summary. Nope.

                                                                                     Jason woke up to find himself surrounded by darkness. At first, he thought that maybe he had just somehow forgotten to open his eyes. Testing that theory, he scrunched his eyes closed and tried opening them again, only to find that he was still surrounded by the abysmal dark. He couldn't see a damn thing. 

 

After a few minutes, Jason finally found the nerve to reach his hand out in front of him, trying to determine if that would give him some clue as to where exactly he was. His palms were met with the feeling of absolutely nothing in front of him. 

 

Jason was so confused. The last thing that he remembers is being at the library, just trying to find something good to read. 

 

Oh. 

 

His memories came flooding back to him. He had indeed been at the library searching for a novel to get engrossed in when he got the feeling that he was being watched. Then the blonde lady with the floral skirt had appeared, and he'd been shot with what must've been an iron bullet. Jason then tried to remember where the bullet had pierced him at, feeling around his body to try to find some source of pain. Nothing. 

 

But he did discover that he wasn't wearing the same leather jacket, secondhand shirt and worn out jeans that he had been when he'd been shot. The pants on him now were much looser, as was the shirt which was cut in a V-neck style that Jason would've never worn, and his feet were bare. Jason was almost glad that he couldn't see anything, because if he could see how he looked, he was sure that he wouldn't have been too pleased with his appearance, 

 

He pondered how long he'd been unconscious for. Maybe he had been asleep long enough for the bullet wound to heal... But he honestly doubted that. Perhaps whoever had taken him had surgically removed the bullet. 

 

Jason thought about his friends, Kori and Roy. They'd been kidnapped, too. Right before they were treated with the respect given to lab rats, poked at prodded at for what they were in the name of research, until they were finally put out of their misery. Their corpses were then dropped on Jason's doorstep. A warning. 

_"You're next."_

 

He should've gotten the hell out of Gotham. But out of spite, he remained in that city.  What a dumb move.

 

Then Jason came to the conclusion that maybe he was dead. Maybe that was how the end was- a huge, dark void. 

 

_That's not an option,_ Jason determined. He wouldn't allow himself to meet the same kind of fate as his friends. He was going to find a way to get out of there. His eyes were slowly beginning to adjust to the surrounding darkness, and Jason could now see his hands in front of him. Hesitantly, he took a small step. He could feel the floor beneath his bare feet, and realized that it was more than likely made of concrete. He still couldn't feel anything with his hands, though.

 

He took another step. Then another. Jason continued this pattern until he finally decided that this was taking too long. The man let out an impatient sigh as he wracked his brain for some sort of idea. If only he could see...

 

Jason let out a gasp. He was such an idiot sometimes. He was complaining about the lack of light when he could transform into a flaming bird. nice. 

 

But it had been so long since he shifted.... He wasn't even sure if he was capable of doing it anymore. But he had to try. 

 

Jason closed his eyes and tried to summon a bit of heat, but all he could feel was the chilly air that was within the cage of darkness that trapped him. It didn't help that Jason also felt exceptionally weak at that moment. He decided to blame that on the bullet that was shot into him. He recalled the times when shifting was easy for him, and wished that he wasn't so out of practice. 

 

The prisoner clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms, and gritted his teeth. He  _needed_ to do this. He was using all of his willpower to just feel something...He let out a groan of frustration as he stomped his foot, trying, trying,  _trying...._

 

There it was! On the back of his neck, he felt the tiniest bit of warmth crawl down to his shoulders, and from there to his spine. Soon, the heat was enveloping Jason's entire body, and he could feel it taking over. 

 

A small moan crept passed his dry lips at the heat. It had been so,  _so_ long since he'd last felt this way. It was always an intoxicating feeling to him. 

Soon, flames began to flicker up and down Jason's arms, illuminating the room. After looking around, he discovered that it was fully enclosed, not an exit in sight. 

The fire had completely taken over Jason's body then, red, orange, and yellow flames danced along his legs, arms, back, and he could feel the heat making it's way inside of his mind. 

That had always been Jason's downfall- the fire always consumed too much of him, making him literally a hothead, as Roy used to describe it. 

 

But Jason couldn't worry about that at the moment. He refused to allow anyone to lock him up and treat him like he wasn't human. He was. To an extent. 

 

The flames began to stick off of his skin in little straight formations, creating a pattern that looked like an array of gold and red feathers. The clothes that Jason had been put into were now a pile of ashes on the floor. Soon, Jason's entire body was covered in the feather-like flames, spreading out of his arms and forming fiery wings. 

 

Now, the once dark room that he was locked in was completely illuminated. Jason walked over to one of the walls and placed his hands on the smooth surface. Slowly, the wall became hot beneath his touch, and flames danced between his hands and the surface. Jason pressed down a little harder, the smell of smoke now filling his nostrils. 

 

Gradually, the materials that made up the wall began to soften and eventually liquefy under Jason's touch. Little by little, the wall that separated Jason from whatever it was that was outside of it grew thinner and thinner. Jason then pressed his entire body to the wall, and waited as the wall turned into a pile of nothing at his feet. After a period of time that was way too long by Jason's standards, there was finally a Jason-shaped hole in the wall, leading him to what looked like some sort of laboratory. Not willing to hesitate any longer, Jason stepped through his makeshift exit, relieved to be out of his prison. 

 

The moment that he did, he was met with a gun to his head. He sighed. Getting shot at was getting old to him. 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short and dumb, I'm sorry. Next chapter will be in Dick's point of view!!!!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick wants to see the phoenix. Also, author pretends to understand how gymnastics works, and fails miserably, probably unintentionally offending gymnasts everywhere. Sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be hints of manipulative, creepy Slade/Dick here. probably nothing very explicit, but it is there.

                                                                              Dick often wondered what his life would be like if circumstances had been different. For example, what would his life be like if he had been adopted by Bruce Wayne instead of taken in by Slade Wilson? Would he have more of a family structure if he had went with Bruce, like how most adoptions are intended to be? 

 

Now, he wasn't saying that Slade mistreated him, because that wasn't the case at all. In fact, how well he was treated by Slade was probably considered unusual to most, especially since he didn't treat anyone else at MYTH as well as he treated Dick. 

 

Dick could see Slade eying him from the entrance of the gymnasium. That wasn't uncommon though, Slade usually watched Dick work out on the uneven bars. He couldn't say that he minded the attention though, he's always been a performer, and having an audience thrilled him, being the show off that he was. 

 

He swung back and forth a little bit after mounting the lower of the two bars, building up his momentum. This wasn't a necessary step for him anymore- he'd built up his body muscle and had enough practice that he could jump onto a bar and start spinning, flipping, twisting, and performing all sorts of tricks right away, but he the young man was a tease, and loved to give his audience some anticipation. 

 

_Back, forth, back, forth,_ Dick swung as Slade continued to watch him. He then spun so that he was at the top of the bar, in a handstand position, held that for a moment, then returned to the bottom of the bar. He repeated the move once again, this time though, he stretched his legs into a split position as he held his handstand. He knew that the handstand split move was one of Slade's favorites, so he made sure that he performed it often. 

 

Dick then let his hands leave the bar, projecting his body at just the right angle before gripping the higher or the two bars, only to let it go and perform another graceful flip. He continued to perform numerous handstands, flips, and twists to his heart's content, swinging back and forth between the two bars. He always got a high from being between the bars, flying. It's like it was his purpose, to constantly be in the air. Dick wondered for a moment if he should unleash his wings- Slade always loved it when he did, especially when performing gymnastics. He'd once told Dick that it reminded him of when he'd first seen him, when Dick was still young and performing acrobatics with his family in Haly's Freak Show. Slade said that seeing him fly through the air like it was his home was when he'd decided that he needed to have Dick as his own. 

 

Dick decided against exposing his wings this time, though. He'd had them out a lot lately, and anyways, he performed a handstand split for Slade about five times during this routine, and that one was really a workout on his legs and glutes. 

 

After a final yet dramatic twist of his body, Dick dismounted the bar, flipping through the air until he landed gracefully on his bare feet on the blue mats that covered the entire gymnasium floor. 

 

He heard a slow clap from the entry way, and Dick smiled as he wiped the sweat from his brow as Slade approached him. 

 

"Beautiful, my little bird." Slade complimented as he handed him a chilled bottle of water. 

 

Dick accepted it eagerly and took a long sip, the cool liquid quenching the thirst that his workout had brought on. After swallowing the water down, he replied, "Glad ya liked it. What I really need to work on more is my floor routines, though. Maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow. Or even this evening if I get bored."

 

Slade gave a sigh. "As much as I'd love to watch that, I'm afraid that I will more than likely be too occupied to do so."

 

The younger man gave a frown. "Why?" Slade watched him nearly every time that he practiced.

 

"There's going to be a new inmate. He'll probably be moved to the same cell block that those two friends of yours live in- if he learns to how to behave well enough that he can come out of solitary confinement, that is."

 

"Solitary confinement? I thought that was just for the first twenty-four hours, though."

 

Now Slade frowned. "Usually it is. But this man managed to break out of it, due to our underestimation of him. He's now in there again, and if he's on his best behavior tomorrow, I'll be busy settling him in."

 

Dick bit his lip as he though. How powerful could the man be, to bust out of solitary confinement? "What kind of creature is he, Slade?'

 

Slade looked thoughtful as he hesitated, as if uncertain if he should tell Dick or not. "He's a phoenix. The last phoenix, in fact, that we have record of."

 

Dick's eyes widened at the information. There was going to be a phoenix here at MYTH? He'd never seen one before, though Slade told him that they did once have two of them in the facility in captivity, but Dick was never allowed to see them. He'd heard from one of the scientists that he was friends with that they're strikingly beautiful creatures, but deadly. That hadn't ceased any of Dick's curiosity though. "Wow," he finally said softly. "I'll finally get to see a phoenix! They never had one around when I was growing up, though Mr. Haly always said if he could ever find one, he'd-"

 

"Richard," Slade firmly interrupted. 

 

The younger man's chatter abruptly stopped. "Yes?'

 

"Pheonixes are one of the most dangerous creatures that there are. I don't want you going in and pestering this one, if I allow you to see it at all. He's got a temper, and he could hurt you without even trying."

 

Dick pouted and frowned at the blue mats beneath his feet, before Slade grabbed his chin and forced him to look up and make eye contact with him. Dick continued to scowl as he looked into his mentor's eye, and as the older said, "I only want what's best for you."

 

"And all I want is to see the phoenix." Dick retorted.

 

Slade scoffed as he ran a rough finger over one of Dick's cheeks. "You're acting like a spoiled child, Richard." 

 

"Well then I guess you shouldn't have spoiled me."

 

"That's very true, my little bird. But I did, but you're not getting your way on this. You will not have any sort of contact with the phoenix unless I deem it safe for you to do so. Do you understand?"

 

"How long will it take for it to be safe?"

 

"That depends completely on the creature's cooperation. Right now he's being rather unruly, though."

 

Dick pulled away from Slade's grasp and crossed his arms. "Fine. But I want to see him as soon as I can." 

 

"And you shall, my dear. For now, be a good boy and accompany me to lunch, will you?'

 

Dick sighed, and replied after a moment, "I am pretty hungry."

 

Slade smirked. "As I suspected Your patience with the phoenix shall be rewarded." He began to lead the younger man out of the gymnasium. "For now, what would you like for lunch?'

 

Smirking as well, Dick followed his mentor. He was totally going to find a way to see that phoenix, whether Slade liked it or not.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick still wants to see the phoenix.

                                               Dick sighed contently as he pulled his foot up above his head with his arm. He was doing his morning yoga, and he always loved the feel the delicious burn that ran through his muscles as he tested his flexibility with complex poses. Slade had awoken long before Dick had, with nothing but a note by his bed stating that he probably wouldn't be back until the evening, and to not get into too much mischief without him. 

As much as he hated to admit it, Dick was always a little lost without Slade constantly shadowing his every move. Sure, he'd lived in the MYTH facility for years now, and he knew that the building was filled with scientists, security guards, and all sorts of different creatures, but they didn't care for him the way that Slade did. 

But despite the discomfort of not having his mentor with him, he carried on with his daily schedule the best that he could. After he did a few more minutes of yoga, he went back into his bedroom, showered, and changed into fresh, clean clothing- loose, grey sweatpants, and a light blue crop top. 

He fixed himself a bowl of cereal and watched a tv show that Slade always deemed "too childish" for him as he ate. So what if he was twenty-three years old and enjoyed cartoon? He thought they were cute. 

After half an hour of Looney Tunes, Dick wondered if he should head back to the gymnasium to work on perfecting his floor routine. He'd never gotten the chance to practice more the night before because it turned out that Slade had other activities for them in mind. 

_Probably  just to get my mind off of the phoenix,_ Dick thought as he got up off of the couch to go but his bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. But despite Slade's attempts of distracting him, Dick couldn't keep his mind off of the creature. He stayed awake for the majority of the night, staring at the ceiling as he wondered what the phoenix looked like-mainly its wings. What were the feathers on his wings like? Were they soft, like Dick's, or were they really made up entirely of fire, like Dick had heard and read about in his mythology books? But Dick knew that those silly mythology books weren't that accurate- he'd seen drawings of what people supposed that harpies looked like, and Dick was rather insulted by them. They also almost always depicted his kind as females- what was up with that?

The young man sighed as he started up the dishwasher. He doubted that Slade would answer any of his question if he asked- he'd turned over many times the previous night as Dick laid awake and pondered about the creature and told him to turn his mind off and get some shut-eye. 

Lucky for Dick though, there was one person in the facility that he knew would answer his question. Dick then decided that he wasn't going to go to the gymnasium just yet-no, first he was going to go visit his favorite scientist, Tim. 

...

                       Tim frowned at Dick as the harpy seated himself on one of laboratory counters, completely unaware that he'd just seated himself on the papers that Tim had been working on for the past few hours.

"Hiya, Timmy." Dick chirped as he swung his legs back in forth. 

Tim sighed, and not so happily said, "Dick, I'm happy to se you, really, but could you please get your ass off of my lab reports?"

Dick furrowed his eyebrows before raising his body off of the counter with his arms, creating just enough space between his butt and the counter for Tim to grab his papers. He lowered himself back down, then continued, "So, any new creatures coming in lately?"

The young scientist rolled his eyes. "You know there are. Why else would Slade abandon his 'little bird' all day?" He picked up a nearby pencil and began writing on the papers that Dick was previously sitting on.

After chuckling, Dick gave up trying to be subtle. "C'mon, Timmy. You've gotta tell me about the phoenix, Slade doesn't even want me to see the creature. It's so unfair! I've been allowed to see superhumans, sirens, werewolves, and all sorts of other creatures, why can't I see this one?"

"Maybe because he can literally combust into a flaming bird and turn you to a pile of Dick-ashes in seconds?"

"Well, yeah, but doesn't that sound amazing?"

"Be careful or Slade will think that I passed my sense of humor filled with I-want-to-die jokes onto you, and if I get fired, how will I ever find another place that'll let me keep my lab this messy?" Tim motioned to the small room filled with half empty coffee mugs, Redbull cans, and papers stacked in high piles. 

"But don't you think it's unfair?" Dick asked, ignoring Tim's comment. 

"No. If I had a son, even if he was adopted at an older age and we had this extremely weird relationship that is really not very family like at all and is kind of disturbing, I certainly wouldn't let him near a phoenix. Especially this one, he's got a temper that burns brighter than those flames around him."

The older man rolled his eyes. "That's rich coming from someone who spends all of his time around one of the only aliens we have here." 

Tim's cheeks turned a little pink. "Kon's not technically an alien, he's a clo-"

"Wait-Slade said that the phoenix might be placed in the same cell block as Kon and Damian. Do you think that I could go with you the next time you visit them?" 

Tim put down his pencil and paper that he was currently working on and stared at Dick. "Listen, I don't even know how soon he'll be moved into a cell block. Before that, he was to be placed alone where we can observe him, and I have to find a proper sedative to keep him from lighting the whole place up. It might be a while until he can be placed around any other creatures. And this isn't a joke, Dick. This guy could seriously hurt, if not kill you."

Dick sighed yet again as he averted his arms to the ground. He said softly, "I know, Tim. But he has  _wings!_ I haven't met anyone with wings since..." He let his voice trail off. 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tim exhaled slowly, and Dick knew he had gotten him. "Look, I know, and I understand. I guess... After he gets moved into the experimental cell, he'll constantly be recorded. I'll be given access to the footage for research purposes, and I guess... I guess it wouldn't hurt to show you some of it."

Dick's face lit up as he hopped down from the counter. "Really? You're the best, Timmy!" He embraced the scientist, giving him a kiss on the cheek as Tim grumbled.

"Whatever. Just don't tell Slade, he's the only boss I've ever had that lets me pull as many all-nighters as I want."

"You got it, Timmy."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh, I hate this chapter. My apologies if I ended up writing Tim a bit out of character, I've never written him before and I was having a little trouble. Also, I think that I'm going to try to update every Sunday.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason's pissed off.

                                                              Jason was more pissed off than he could ever remember being, and that meant that he was pretty mad, with the temper that he had. After breaking out of that isolated imprisonment, he was met with another gun to his head, and was then shackled with silver chains and injected with a drug that caused him to pass out. Jason later awoke to discover that he was in a different sort of cage this time- rather than being surrounded by darkness, Jason was in an enclosure that seemed to be made up of four big one-way mirrors. Jason could see himself in them, but the image seemed altered in a way that Jason just couldn't put his finger on. 

Jason's whole body ached something terrible. He was lying on the floor in his newly acquired cell, which, Jason noticed, was blindingly white, and was trying to find the strength to stand up. But Jason felt completely drained of every bit of energy- just trying to prop himself up on his hands and knees nearly caused him to black out. 

He was trying to determine if his lack of strength was from shifting, since he hadn't done it in so long, or if it was from whatever liquid was in the syringe that was injected into him. It was probably a bit of both, Jason supposed. Or possibly the fact that the last time that he remembered eating was the morning of the day he went to the library and was pursued by the woman in the floral skirt. 

He thought back to shortly after he was escaped that fortress of solitude, and wondered how close he was to regaining his freedom. The man that had apprehended him was able to grab Jason as he was in his phoenix form, and didn't burn at all as he placed the silver handcuffs on him, instantly weakening him before being handed the liquid that Jason was sedated with. That meant that he must have been some sort of creature himself, to be able to withstand the heat that Jason was producing at the time. But if that was the case, why didn't the silver hurt the man as he was cuffing Jason? He's read somewhere that silver was one of the few weaknesses to nearly all creatures, so why didn't it affect this one? He wanted answers. 

With the last bit of his strength, Jason tried to prop himself up onto his arms one more time, only to have his body give into the weakness that was eating away at him, and blacked out, face planting onto the pristine white floor. 

...

                        When Jason was finally brought a decent meal, he was overjoyed. There had been people clothed in lab coats as white as the floor that he sat on day after day that injected his veins with a fluid each day- Jason's strength was still nowhere close to what it averagely was, so he could barely even try to keep them from giving him the liquid. Jason had picked out a pattern in what he was injected with- first, he was injected with a large amount of clear liquid, which Jason determined was probably water, because he didn't seem to be dehydrating. He wondered how much longer until his captors determined that he could be trusted to drink out of a cup. Jason doubted that if he ever was deemed worthy enough to do that, that the cup would be made of glass, but he thought that if it was, maybe he could cut the guards with it and attempt to escape again. 

Next, he was injected with a liquid that seemed to vary in color each day. Jason determined that they were probably testing sedatives or something like that on him, trying to figure out what worked best to make him into a helpless puppet. He decided that when he broke out, he wanted to find out who was making these concoctions and strangle them. 

Then he would be injected with more water, before a longer period of time passed, and he was injected with water again. This is how Jason concluded that he must be hydrated in the mornings and evenings, and then tested on each afternoon. This continued for three days before a dark haired woman with a white lab coat on handed him a paper plate with a cheeseburger on it. Jason had stared at it in disbelief, poked it multiple times, trying to verify if he was hallucinating or not. He'd been starving before in the past, and Jason knew that he could probably go a few more days before feeling seriously hungry. 

Jason looked back and forth from the what seemed like a five course meal to the woman standing before him and the guards that surrounded the exit of his prison that always seemed to completely vanish whenever they left. Was this for real, or were they waiting to rip the burger away from it the moment he tried to bite it? 

With hesitation apparent in his eyes and movements, Jason picked up the burger. It had the density of a normal burger, so that was a plus. He considered for a moment that it could be poisoned, before ruling it out quickly. If they were going to poison him, they would probably do it with one of his daily injections. Jason was sure, that the meal was more than likely filled with all sorts of special drugs to give him a docile attitude, but as this point he was too hungry to care.

Raising the burger to his mouth, he took a big bite out of it, and let out a groan that was borderline pornographic. He  _loved_ cheeseburgers, and for a moment, he forgot that he was even in captivity as he devoured the meal. After a few minutes of eating the burger, Jason stared down at his empty hands in dissatisfaction. He was still hungry. But the woman before him just took the paper plate from in front of him and vanished through the cell walls, along with the guars to make sure that he didn't have some sort of violent outburst. Not like he could, he was still too weak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fortress of solitude, teehee. I didn't get this uploaded yesterday like I wanted to, sorry about that ya'll.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick finally gets to see the phoenix.

                                              One thing about Slade Wilson is that he did not appreciate being woken up from his slumber earlier than he had to get up. Dick learned this when the older man had first adopted him and Dick had reoccurring nightmares from his time in Haly's Freak Show. For months, his sleep would be interrupted with images of his parents' wings giving out mid-flight, and of their bodies on the floor, bloody and disfigured. He also had trouble sleeping because of how quiet his new home was. He was used to all of the sounds that accompanied the freak show- the sound of voices talking deep into the night, all sorts of exotic creatures chattering. Here at the laboratories, it was eerily quiet, and Dick can't honestly say that he'd ever gotten used to it. 

It wasn't exactly uncommon for Dick to get up in the middle of the night. When nightmares plagued his nights as a child, he would get out of bed and go to the gymnasium that Slade had built for him shortly after Dick had moved in with him. Flying to and fro from the low and high bar made him feel a bit like he was invincible, even if he was afraid to use his wings for a long time. But after a few months, Slade was used to feeling the heated body next to him get up and abandon him, and it became familiar. 

But Dick was still nervous as he tiptoed down one of the dimly lit hallway of MYTH. He kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to see Slade following him, giving him a disappointed glare with his one eye. But every time he turned around, he was met with the image of a dark, empty hallway, his own shadow, and nothing more. 

Several steps and anxious breaths later, all taken while looking cautiously over his shoulder, Dick finally reached Tim's laboratory. Despite it being two a.m. in the morning, Dick could see Tim walking back and forth between multiple laptops, jotting down notes on paper, and sipping on a mug of coffee through the one small window in his lab. Dick raised his fist to knock on the lab door, then paused. Slade wouldn't be happy if he found out that Dick was sneaking out to do this. 

But then again, he never said that Dick couldn't. And besides, he knew how to earn back Slade's forgiveness rather easily anymore. He knocked on the door. 

Through the window, he saw Tim jump up in a startled manner from the office chair that he'd just sat down in, swinging his arm and knocking over a mostly empty cup of coffee in the process. Dick saw the scientist mouth a word that looked like "Shit", before running and opening the door quickly for Dick, motioned for him to come in, and then sprinted to the other side of the lab to retrieve a handful of paper towels. Dick watched as Tim let the paper towels absorb the liquid, staining the once white material stain dark brown. 

After pouring himself another full cup of hot coffee (Dick wondered how many cups he'd had within the pat few hours- judging by the slight tremor in his hands and the dark circles beneath his eyes, he presumed it was much more than what was healthy), Tim finally spoke. 

"You can't tell Slade about this. I mean it, Dick." Despite the energetic shake to his hands, Dick could tell by looking into the younger man's eyes that he was exhausted. 

"I promise that I won't, Timmy." He tried to make his eyes look as pleading as he could manage. 

The young scientist was silent for a moment before letting out a long, tired sigh, and taking a sip of the freshly poured coffee. After setting down the mug, he walked over to an area on the counter where numerous open laptop sat side by side. He swiped across the screen of them all, reawakening the dim screens. Each of them showed the image of a man sitting in the corner of a cell that seemed to be made completely out of glass. However, Dick knew that outside of what looked like glass to the inmate, was a one-way mirror, and there were dozens of scientists observing the phoenix without his knowledge. 

Tim tapped twice on one of the screen and it instantly zoomed in on the man's face. Dick stepped closer to the screen, before squatting down so that the was eye level with the image. The man was sitting with his legs crossed in a way that reminded Dick of one of the first gymnastic stretches he learned as a child, and with his elbows on his knees. He rested his head in his hands, and his face had an expression of exhaustion. His eyes were half open, like he was trying hard to not fall asleep, or like he'd just woken up from a deep sleep. From what Dick could see of his irises, the looked dark blue. 

Dick figured that if the man didn't look so tired and if he could get a better look at his face, he would probably find him attractive. His skin was a tanned hue and he seemed to fill out the standard issued MYTH jumpsuit well- it almost looked too tight on him. Dick stood up from his squatting position and asked Tim, "How often does he transform into a phoenix?"

After tapping on the screen again and zooming out, Tim replied, "He hasn't since he broke out of solitary confinement. He's been kept pretty heavily sedated since then."

Dick nodded. "How much longer does he have to stay in the observatory before he can be moved out into a proper area?"

"That will depend on Slade. If he's okay with the phoenix staying this sedated, anytime now. He hasn't caused any trouble, although he's more than likely just waiting for an opportune moment. If Slade wants to get him weaned off of some of the drugs and for him to be able to prove that he can behave without them, then it might take a while longer."

After nodding again, Dick looked back at the captured shape shifter on the screen. He was now laying on his back, stretched out, with his arms behind his head. The man was staring right at the top of the enclosure, right at one of the hidden cameras. He looked more awake now, and Dick could see clearly that his dark blue eyes had little flecks of dark green and a grey shade in them, reminding Dick of some sort of dark abstract painting. 

"Hey, Tim?" Dick questioned quietly as he continued to stare at the screen.

There was a loud slurp from the scientist taking a long sip of coffee before he answered, "Yeah?"

"What's... What's the phoenix's name?"

Tim didn't answer right away. There was a complete silence in the room for a moment that Dick found rather eerie, before Tim finally answered as Dick continued to stare into the eyes of the man who had no idea that he was being stared at.

"His name is Jason."

...

             After climbing back into bed as cautiously as he could, Dick felt Slade wrap one of his strong arms around his waist, pulling the younger man close to his chest. Slade pressed his lips softly to Dick's neck, but said nothing as they laid together, 

Eventually, Dick fell asleep, wrapped in Slade's embrace. His dreams, however, were haunted by a swirling painting filled with green, blue and grey colors, and whispers of the name,  _"Jason"._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha and I said I was going to update this every week. apparently not.  
> in case you couldn't tell, I don't know what color Jason's eyes are supposed to be??


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dick is sneaking around

                                                                                         Dick wriggled his toes impatiently as he laid in bed early one morning. His and Slade's shared bedroom was dark, with it being about three in the morning. The young harpy was full of energy though, despite barely sleeping at all the night before. He rolled over on his side, pressing his cheek to where Slade normally slept. It wasn't warm from his body heat anymore, since the man got up about an hour and a half ago. There was plenty of commotion erupting throughout MTYH today. They decided to run numerous tests on one of the half human, half alien creatures. When they returned him to his cell, his best friend, who was in the next cell over, was furious to see the young alien looking so exhausted and worn out from the tests that were conducted. He'd been causing trouble ever since, scraping his long nails on his aquarium, spitting back the food he was given at the guards, which got fish guts and blood all over. Slade informed Dick that the way the siren was acting would result in a harsh punishment if he continued. Dick was tempted to go tell the creature that he'd better calm down- he liked Damian. He was just a kid. A bratty one, sure, but Dick knew that he had a kind heart under his rough exterior. But Damian's outburst could potentially give him an opportunity to get what he'd been longing for. 

 

 Finally, Dick decided that he couldn't stay in bed for a moment longer. He stood up from the bed, and switched on the lamp beside him on the nightstand. He slipped on his black slippers, and made his way out of the room. Deciding that going straight down to solitary confinement was too risk, he made his way down to the regular cells. 

 

Not very many of the cells were actually very cell-like, in Dick's opinion. They were more like small replicas of what each creature's habitat would actually be like. The satyrs dwelled in an area that was a bit mountainous and had plenty of greenery and trees, much like a forest. There were wooded areas for dryads, and little makeshift rivers for the water sprites. Dick supposed that if harpies had an area here, it would be full of tall trees and mountain peaks to fly off of. It sounded quite nice to him, actually. 

 

In the middle of the circular room that the creatures were held in, there were numerous guards all gathered together, where there was water spilled on the floor, some of which had a reddish tint to it, which Dick supposed was due to fish blood. He could hear splashes in the water, and as Dick got closer, he saw that Damian was being held above the water in a heavy duty net. The young siren had managed to rip a hole through the bottom of it though, and his tail was sticking out of it, and thrashing in the water. The MYTH workers were trying to inject a sedative into him, but with the way Damian was squirming and splashing, it looked like that wouldn't be happening any time soon.Dick watched as one of the guards, Oswald, tried to grab Damian by the jaw. Damian roughly jerked his head away, then jerked it down again to sink his abnormally sharp teeth into Oswald's arm. Oswald shrieked in pain as another guard tried to help him pull his arm away from the creature. Damian hadn't bit off any flesh, but he left a nice, deep puncture wound in Oswald's arm. Damian grinned, blood staining his teeth as he said, "Tastes like a penguin." Then he managed to rip himself completely free of the net and dove under the water. 

 

Slade, who was standing just a few feet away from Dick, commanded, "If he's not caught and sedated within twenty minutes, we'll stop for the night. Then he won't be fed again until he's starving, and when he comes back up to the surface, we'll place him in solitary confinement." 

 

Dick determined that Slade must not have seen him yet, and quickly made his way away from the cells. He quickly walked throughout the halls of MYTH, before breaking into a run. He ran until he reached a heavy duty door that was located near the back of the facility. Dick typed the code  _WINTERGREEN321_ into the password pad. The heavy door slid open, and Dick realized that there was still one guard in there, sitting by a control panel in front of a large glass cell of some sort. 

 

The guard looked up at Dick. For a moment, Dick was afraid that he'd be told to leave, until the man asked, "Is something wrong, sir?" 

 

"Um," Dick said. His eyes shifted to the cage. All he could see was a figure huddled near the back of it. "Slade needs help. "Damian-um, the siren, has attacked another guard."

 

The man stood up from the control panel. "I'll get right on it. But i need someone to watch the-"

 

"I can do it!" Dick quickly volunteered. "I mean, Slade told me to watch him. It'll just be for a minute. And he's sleeping anyways, right?"

 

The man's eyes shifted between the locked up pheonix and Dick. "Well, if Slade said so... Just... Don't click anything on the panel. He's not as sedated now, so he might wake up. He should behave though."

 

Dick nodded as the guard made his way out of the room. He didn't shut the door behind him, which made Dick a little nervous. He'd wanted to be completely alone with the creature. 

 

He made his way to the back of the glass enclosure, where the pheonix was huddled up. Dick stopped though, when he was a little closer. The pheonix-Jason, as Tim told Dick his name was, was sitting on his knees, his hands pressed against the glass. He was laying his head on one of his arms though. Dick thought it looked horribly uncomfortable, but he noticed that there was no furniture in the glass cell. Not even a pillow, it was all completely bare. 

 

Slowly, DIck made his way further around, until he was right in front of the pheonix. He could see the side of his face clearly. He had a lot of dark stubble surrounding his jawline, and his eyes were closed. His lips were red and horribly chapped. Dick noticed the numerous scars that Jason had. They peeked out beneath his MYTH  uniform, and there were a few small ones on his face, around his eyes and across his cheeks. He was breathing really heavily as well. 

 

Seeing the pheonix in person wasn't really anything like what he thought it would be like, Dick determined to himself. There wasn't excitement coursing through his body like there was anticipation while he planned how he would see the creature. There wasn't anything shocking about Jason at the moment- he just looked like a very tired man. Dick did feel some sort of empathy towards him, though. 

 

Dick took a step back, deciding that he'd best leave before he got caught by anyone. He knew that Tim was probably watching him from the camera- maybe he could convince him to delete the footage. 

 

He took one last glance at the pheonix, and as he did, Jason's face turned so that Dick could see it fully. Dick looked at him for a moment longer and as he did, Jason's eyes popped open. Dick gasped, the covered his mouth and stood completely still. He didn't know if the pheonix could see or hear him. Jason wasn't looking at him, though. He was looking a little bit below Dick's face. His breathing was becoming heavier, and he clenched his jaw. Dick figured that the must not be able to see him, so he took a step closer. Jason's irises were turning a shade of red, and his face was turning pink, like it was hard for him to breathe. Dick thought he must be trying to change into his pheonix form. 

 

Dick stood and stared in wonder as Jason's eyes turned brighter and brighter shades of red, until they almost seemed to have a flame flickering in them themselves. Jason parted his lips and let out a groan that Dick could just barely hear. His eyes turned brighter... before going completely back to their original shade. Jason collapsed back to the ground in a heap, his breathing raggedy. 

 

Dick's heart has beating fast as he quickly hurried out of the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him. He hurried back to the bedroom, trying to figure out in his head how he felt about what he'd witnessed. He saw guards heading back towards the solitary confinement room. Luckily, Dick was far enough away from the room that he could safely assume that no one had seen him. 

 

When he reached the bedroom, he quietly opened the door and slipped in. The lamp was still on, and Slade wasn't in there yet. Dick sighed in relief and got back into bed, turning the light off. He was still wide awake when Slade came back to bed about forty-five minutes later and got into bed and wrapped his arms around him. 

 

The miserable look on Jason's face haunted Dick all night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY FOR NEVER UPDATING THIS UGH. I keep forgetting it exists. Sorry that this sucks haha


	8. Eight

                                                                                               On occasion, Jason would miss the days he was in solitary confinement. Today was one of those days. He'd been moved out into a regular cell for about two weeks. It really wasn't anything fancy- there was a bed, a little table with a chair, and a nightstand beside his bed. It was basically an extremely under-furnished room. It was vastly different from the other resident's "homes". They were all decked out to match what they were, like there was a bratty little siren right next to him that had a whole beach to himself. There were only two other creatures that had living spaces similar to Jason's- both of them were pretty human looking, dark-haired, blue eyed males. One looked to be maybe nineteen or twenty years old, where the other one looked like he was maybe twelve years old. Jason had witnessed both of them flying though, so he knew they couldn't be human. The circular room that all of the creatures lived in was decently furnished, though. There was a large bookcase that held a variety of reading material, a big table with chairs around it, a few couches, a ping pong table, and an air hockey table.

 

Today, Jason was particularly annoyed with being stuck in the circular room due to two of the residents playing round after round of ping pong. One of them, which appeared to be a half cyborg of some sort, kept hitting the ball too hard and would send it flying and bouncing off of the glass of one glass enclosure to another, over and over again. He and his friend, who would appear to just be a regular teenager, if he wasn't green, and if Jason hadn't seen him turn into a chimpanzee four different times last night, thought that it was just hilarious. He'd just laugh like it was genuinely funny- even after it happened six times. Jason had been trying to concentrate on his book. Books were currently the only thing-well, that and food- that brought him any happiness right now. 

 

He had no idea anymore why he was even in this facility. He wasn't being tortured, and it didn't seem like anyone had any intention of killing him. The other captives weren't all looking miserable like he would think- they looked content. Some even looked  _happy._

 

Jason determined that it was a ruse. There was no way that the same facility that murdered his fellow pheonixes and friends had a nice side. He was going to discover the truth.

He finally stopped pacing, and exited his cell to go out into the main room. There weren't any windows, and the door was a heavy metal sliding one, that could only be opened from the other side. The walls were in perfect condition, no cracks or even marks that could be a weak spot that could potentially let Jason out. The man approached the book case, completely aware that all of the other creatures in the room were staring at him- this was the first time that he's left his "room"- he didn't even know what to call it- since he'd been placed in there. He ran his fingers along the spines of the books in the top row. then went over them again with the palms of his hands, pushing against them. He repeated the action with each of the rows, thinking that as long of a shot that it was, maybe one of the books could be pushed in or tilted, and then it would reveal a secret passageway. Jason knew that the possibility of that was close to nonexistent, but he figured he might as well check. He groaned and walked away from the bookcase. He didn't even feel like reading. He walked past the cyborg and green guy at the pool table as they gave him a curious look. Walking past his own cell, he approached one that had a young boy in it. He was one of the only ones that hadn't been watching Jason- his back was to the glass, and it looked like he was reading something. Jason tapped on the glass, startling the kid. His back straightened up, and his book fell to the floor as he quickly turned around and faced Jason, with wide eyes.

 

The kid's mouth was hanging open, like he was either about to say something or he was trying to catch flies, but Jason quickly asked, "What's your name?'

 

The boy hesitated for a moment. "Um.." His blue eyes quickly looked to the right, before looking at Jason again. "It's Jon."

 

"What are you?" 

 

Before Jon could answer, a boy, well, a merman or something, the the aquarium to the right snapped, "What business is it of yours?"

 

Jason turned his head to see the creature glaring at him intently. Like Jon, he also looked like an average preteen boy. He had tan skin, short black hair, green eyes... Nothing too weird until he opened his mouth, and you could see a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Oh, and he had an emerald green tail. 

"It's called just trying to be friendly,  _mermaid."_

 

The creature scoffed. "I'll have you know that I'm a siren. And I very much doubt that someone who was locked in solitary confinement for nine days has very many friendly intentions."

 

"I'ts okay, Damian." Jon quickly cut in. He looked away from the siren and said to Jason, "I'm a Kryptonian."

 

"A Kryptonian? Like Superman?"

 

Jon looked down and said, "Yeah, like Superman."

 

Jason found this odd. The kid kinda looked like Supes, sure with the black hair and blue eyes... But he was a really scrawny, gangly boy. Maybe he'd look more like Superman after he went through puberty, who knows. "So you have the same powers as him?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"You have heat vision, ans super hearing?"

 

"Well I've been told I'm not the best listener but... Yeah."

 

"And you can fly?"

 

Jon then floated a couple inches off of the ground. 

 

Jason nodded and then continued, "What about super strength?"

 

The kids cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Well, I'm not as strong as Superman but... I can lift a little bit of weight, yeah." 

 

"So why the hell are you in here?"

 

"Jon doesn't like language." Damian cut in. 

 

Jason glared at him, "Do you honestly think I give a fu-"

He was interrupted by the door sliding open. Jason turned around to see about a dozen guards coming it. That was the first time that he noticed that they all wore grey uniforms with a navy armband with the letter  _M_ on it. They came up to Jason and two of them took him by the arms. Jason debated in his mind for a moment if he should resist or not. He decided against it, since none of the other creatures seemed to be harmed by their captors. Besides, he was curious about what they wanted. He had a little more strength in him now, he would fight if he needed to. 

 

He was led out of the room, to see that the rest of the building looked oddly normal. He was unconscious, and probably heavily drugged as well when he was taken out of solitary confinement and placed into his new living quarters. There were multiple desks with workers at them, filing papers, typing on laptops, or answering phone calls like this was any old normal business. There were potted plants, comfy chairs, and even a few windows. There wasn't too much to see outside of the windows though. Just plenty of flat land all around. 

 

Most of the building looked like that from what he could tell. There were long hallways that he couldn't see the end to that were lined with closed doors. In the little windows in the doors and through the closed blinds of the rooms, however, he could see what looked like bright TVs flashing inside. 

The guards stopped him outside of a plain office door. One of the guards went forward and knocked, before they heard a muffled "come in". 

The door was opened, and Jason was pushed through the door with four guards following him in. As Jason laid eyes on the man seated in a big leather chair, his jaw clenched and anger stirred inside of him, as he greeted his captor. 

" _Slade."_

 

. 

 


End file.
